Cuphea ignea

Let's talk about my title. I know you're wondering.  

It's the binomial name (Genus, species) for an interesting little flower that appears here and there in our gardens. The first word comes from Greek, and the second from Latin, with which I'm a bit more familiar.  Ignea means fiery.  It's been well named. 

Its common names are more imaginative and describe it for English speakers.  It's a flowering, bushy bit of greenery that's called the 'cigarette plant' here, and 'cigar plant' and 'firecracker plant' in other places. Its origins have been traced to Mexico.  

It's got shiny green leaves and tiny, sort of flattened cylindrical red flowers with white and black on the end. The plant is in the lower right quadrant of this photo.  It's hard to see the flowers. They average about 1/2 to 5/8 of an inch (1.27 cm. to 1.58 cm.) in length. 

Here are some closer views. 

Jeanne and I had taken a walk over to the gardens beyond the Vines today just before lunch. As we wandered, Jeanne spotted some fellow gardeners up ahead. We saw Odette first and then John, who was a little farther on, and preparing a plot for planting. Jeanne and Odette started discussing gardening matters and I tagged along.  

At one point, I asked Odette the name of today's post subject and she filled me in.  She went on to tell me about the very unusual manner in which bees obtain nectar from this particular flower.  It astounded me.  I had never heard of such a thing. I didn't even know that bees could do that. 

I decided then to get my camera and take some pictures.  I hadn't noticed any bees around but intended to look, as Odette had suggested, at the flowers, for the tell-tale signs that bees had taken nectar from them.  

I had no sooner started snapping, when a couple of bees arrived.  We all went to work in earnest. The bees were busily harvesting and I was surprised. I got some really good pictures that showed exactly what Odette predicted.  I had no idea.  

Here's a bee now flying in. 

And the other.

In these next photos, we'll be able to see the amazing method of nectar removal that Odette told me about. 

The bee settles on a flower, 

but instead of going to the open end of the flower and reaching in, it makes its way to the stem end, 

and begins its work. 

The next picture is a close-up of the one just above.  It is chewing, or cutting its way in.  

And here is the close-up of the close-up. 

This is the 'after' picture; after, that is, the bee has opened up a hole at the base of the flower to reach the nectar. 

 

and a close-up of the after picture,

and a close-up of the close-up.  What I want you to notice is how the bee has torn out the side of the flower.  

Odette had told me that every flower the bees had visited would be marked with a hole, and we've seen proof of that today.  

I hope that you've all enjoyed seeing this as much as I enjoyed preparing it. 

And thank you, Odette.   

Before we're done with this post though, let's take a look at a few more shots.  

This is a close-up of the end of a flower.

 

And here is a close-up taken from the end of the flower, looking inside.

Finally, a wasp working from the end of the flower.

As you can tell, I'm very fond of macros. (Close-up photos) 

See you next week for something completely different.   -djf